A huge problem is the incompetence of the White House foreign policy shop and especially its National Security Council. To blame Iran for yesterday's ISIS attacks in Tehran is vile and scandalous. This will come back to hurt the U.S. To release a statement about a phone call with the "Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayet Al Nayhan of the United Arab Emirates" is blatant incompetence. A diligent reading of the names unveils that the "United Emirates" are a federation of emirates just as the "United States" are a federation of states. There is no kingdom of the UAE. There is some crown prince of the emirate of Abu Dhabi who has a bit of informal say within the UAE but there are also six other emirates with other crown princes and a federal UAE government structure in which the crown prince of Abu Dhabi only plays a minor role. The UAE structure is fragile. The federation could easily blow up over the current crisis with Qatar. The incompetent White House statement increases that chance.

So, I hear there were some demonstrations against Sharia law in the USA? Werll, I say protest. But so far the turnout seems to be dozens rather than thousands. And the counter-demonstrations have been bigger in many cases.

I am a bit mystified by it. Why protest against something no-one is actually trying to make happen?

I will leave it up to the legal boffins to see if this could have legs, but I have been wondering why no-one seemed to be doing this thus far. Between this and Jeff Sessions doing damage control, it is gearing up to be an interesting week for Trump-watchers!

Week 30: Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.

June 10, 2017

This week all eyes were on the Comey testimony, which opened the door for what could be obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense. Despite Republicans controlling the House, Senate and White House, legislative progress has largely come to a halt amid weekly and sometimes daily bombshells, as all eyes turn to the Trump-Russia scandal. Also of note is the complete disarray of the Trump regime, and the difficulty Trump is having hiring staff and even finding legal representation.

In the aftermath of terrorists attacks in London Saturday night, Trump attacked the Mayor tweeting, “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is “no reason to be alarmed!”

The US ambassador to the UK contradicted Trump, tweeting from the embassy account we “Commend the strong leadership” of the Mayor.

Trump used the attack as an opportunity to promote his Muslim Ban, “I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!” Ironically, the Trump regime spent months denying it was a “ban.”

Trump also criticized Sessions, tweeting the DOJ should have stayed with the first Muslim ban, “not the watered down, politically correct version.”

Experts said Trump’s tweets would likely hurt the chances on appeal at the Supreme Court.

NYT reported that Trump is fuming at Sessions, especially over his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

Mattis tried to reassure allies at a conference in Singapore, asking them to “bear with us” after Trump’s disastrous foreign trip.

POLITICO reported that Trump’s national security team was blind-sided when he left out the planned language reaffirming US commitment to Article 5 from his NATO summit speech in Brussels.

A noose was found at a construction site in DC, marking the third noose found in the DC area this week.

The Ku Klux Klan applied to hold a rally in Charlottesville on July 8th.

Reuters reported that the Trump regime is seeking to reopen hundreds of cases of illegal immigrants who were granted a reprieve under Obama.

Buzzfeed reviewed more than 50 reports of school bullying, and found that kids nationwide are using Trump’s words to taunt their classmates.

Kim Weaver dropped her run for Congress against Trump ally, Steve King, after receiving multiple death threats.

POLITICO reported that Tillerson has made himself largely inaccessible to staff and outsiders, funneling all inquiries through two staffers.

The Mayor of Los Angeles said ICE’s aggressive raids could cause high tensions in his city to boil over: “I fear a tinderbox out there.”

Canadian searches for flights to US cities have dropped by 43% since Trump’s first proposed Muslim Ban.

Ivanka continued her efforts to reset her image, appearing on the cover of US Weekly with a headline, “Why I Disagree with My Dad.”

Questions arose of whether it is constitutional for Trump to block users, given he Twitter communicate about domestic and foreign policy.

Trump filed a 6 month extension for filing his 2016 taxes. His rationale for the extension is unknown.

WSJ reported Saudi Arabia’s lobbyists and consultants spent $270k at the Trump Hotel DC as part of an effort to lobby Trump against a bi-partisan Act that lets Americans sue foreign countries over terrorist attacks.

The DOJ argued Trump can accept payments from foreign governments, saying the emoluments clause doesn’t apply to “fair-market commercial transactions” like payments for hotel rooms and golf club fees.

As questions remain on why Kushner met with VEB’s Gorkov, Bloomberg reported that Kushner is seeking a $250mm loan to pay back Chinese investors for a New Jersey luxury tower. US banks are wary to lend.

WNYC reported the Kushner family is set to lose $6.5mm in annual tax credits for a property in Jersey City.

The acting US ambassador to China resigned over Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord.

The head of the US Patent Office resigned.

85% of the top science jobs in Trump’s executive branch remain unfilled and do not have a nominee.

The chief executive of Newseum warned that Trump’s denigration of the media would lead to the “delegitimization of journalists,” and encourage authoritarians to target reporters and newspapers around the world.

Rep Gianforte agreed to pay $50k to the Committee to Project Journalists in a civil settlement for assaulting journalist Ben Jacobs.

Mueller brought in several, well-known attorneys with relevant experience to join his special counsel Russia probe, including Michael Dreeben, the DOJ’s top criminal law expert.

Yahoo reported four top law firmed turned down requests to represent Trump citing his unwillingness to listen to advice, potential harm to recruiting and client relationships, and his history of not paying bills.

Forbes reported that at a charity golf tournament run by Eric Trump for St. Jude Children’s Research, $1.2 million of expenses paid to the Trump Organization had no documented receipts.

Additionally, $500k was re-donated to other charities (4 of whom subsequently held tournaments at Trump golf courses), and $100k was funneled though the Eric Trump Foundation to the Trump Organization.

The NY Attorney General’s office said it will look into these payouts by Eric Trump’s Foundation.

Flynn turned over more than 600 pages of documents to the Senate Intel Comm. Most are business records, but also some personal documents.

The Intercept published a leaked top-secret NSA document which detailed the efforts of Russian hackers to target a voting-software supplier and more than 100 local election officials just prior to Election Day.

The FBI arrested the leaker: 25 year-old Reality Winner, a federal contractor in Augusta, Georgia. The FBI was able to track the leak to Winner after The Intercept provided a copy to the NSA for comment.

Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intel Comm said Russian attacks on our election were broader and targeted more states than reported in The Intercept.

Sen Klobuchar asked that the Senate Rules Comm get a classified briefing on the Russian vote hacking attempts.

Deutsche Bank ignored the House Democrats’ request for information on Trump’s accounts and possible ties to Russia.

Trump’s pick for FBI director, Wray, works for a law firm that counts among it’s clients Russian-state oil companies Rosneft and Gazprom

Comey testified in an open session Thursday. Major networks covered the testimony as over 19 million watched. Many in DC caught “Comey fever” and played hooky to watch at restaurants and pubs.

Among the highlights: Comey said Trump lied about him and the FBI; that Sessions had no choice but to recuse himself; and that he was fired because of the Russia investigation.

Comey said he took notes starting directly after the first meeting on January 6 because he was concerned Trump “might lie.” Comey did not feel the need to take notes with Obama or W Bush.

On Trump’s threat of having taped his conversations, Comey said, “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” This spurred another round of demands by Democrats for Trump to produce the tapes, or admit he lied.

Comey said Sessions seemed uncomfortable when Trump asked him to leave the room, “My sense was the attorney general knew he shouldn’t be leaving.” Comey said the same of Kushner.

Comey said he leaked a memo about his meeting with Trump through a friend at Columbia to the NYT in hopes of getting a special counsel appointed.

Comey testified he has given his memos to Mueller, and suggested the special counsel is investigating Trump for obstruction of justice.

Comey said there was no doubt that Russia interfered in our election, saying, “they’re coming after America” and “they will be back.” He also noted this is an attack on our democracy, not a particular political party.

Trump’s lawyer, Kasowitz responded, included a written statement where he misspelled President. He also got the timeline of the Comey memo wrong, and falsely accused Comey of leaking classified information.

After the Comey testimony, Republicans mostly shied away from the camera this week, while Speaker Ryan offered a tepid defense for Trump’s actions: “he’s just new to this.”

Numerous Trump surrogates spent the days surrounding Comey’s testimony by trying to smear him as a liar and attention seeker.

NBC reported that during the Senate Intel Comm’s closed hearing, senators learned about a third, undisclosed meeting between Sessions and Russia. This confirms an item in Week 29, which the DOJ denied.

PM May suffered a major setback in the UK elections, as her Conservative Party lost the majority. Her party’s loss also could spell trouble for Brexit.

Senate Intel Comm staff will interview Kushner next week. NBC reported that Congress wants to ask Kushner if he was seeking funding for his NYC tower.

Pelosi told MSNBC that she is looking into why Trump picked Saudi Arabia as his first country to visit. Past presidents, going back to Reagan had visited close allies Canada or Mexico first.

Pelosi also said she is looking into why while at the visit in Saudi Arabia, Trump had cleared the room.

Trump and Tillerson had an embarrassing difference in foreign policy on Qatar as Tillerson said there should “be no further escalation by parties in the region,” and Trump sided with Saudi Arabia and others, slamming Qatar as a sponsor of terrorism.

Trump’s attorney said he would file a complaint against Comey for leaking his memo to his friend at Columbia.

According to a letter from the US Office of Special Counsel, Trump’s social media director Scavino violated the Hatch Act in April when he tweeted a call to oust a member of the House. He was issued a warning.

In a Friday speech with the president of Romania in the Rose Garden, Trump switched course again and said he would support Article 5 of the NATO pact.

Trump also called Comey a liar and a “leaker,” and that Comey’s testimony showed there was “no collusion, no obstruction.”

Trump also said he would be willing to tell his side of story under oath, “100 percent,” but still would not confirm if the “tapes” really exist.

Top Democratic donor Tom Steyer called for impeachment hearings over obstruction of justice.

Obama's first meeting, he dominates the entire press conference - didn't listen to the whole thing, but he talked for 6 minutes while the cabinet listened, and the press asked a couple of questions which were answered.

Bush gets right to it, makes a brief statement and answered a couple of question from the press.

I didn't find Reagan's 1st cabinet meeting, but the ones I found fit the Obama mold - a few minutes speech then a smattering of questions.

Trump seems to be taking a new and unique approach to opening his cabinet meetings.

After actually listening to it, about half the people's statements aren't as creepy as read. Still, the fawning sycophantry by the bulk of the cabinet members is disgusting.